The Behringer D also works as a standalone tabletop synth.
Behringer has offered an early look at its budget Minimoog clone for Eurorack modular systems.
Company founder Uli Behringer only revealed it was considering a low-price clone of Moog’s iconic analog synth last weekend, but he’s already shown off some preliminary designs for an early prototype at the Gearslutz forum.
The Behringer D appears to be a semi-modular synth like Roland’s AIRA System-1m or Moog’s Mother-32, allowing it to work as a standalone tabletop device or as part of a wider system mounted in a Eurorack case.
“Our goal is to design in a Poly Chain feature that allows combining up to 16 synths through MIDI,” Behringer said on the forum. “Depending on the feedback we will then decide if we move further and build a first prototype.”
Behringer is targeting a retail price of $400 for the Behringer D, which would put it well under the $679 price of Moog’s Mother-32. Its primary features include three VCOs, a 24 dB Ladder Filter, LFO and 16-voice poly chain.
It will also feature an overdrive circuit, noise generator, switchable low/high pass filter mode and external audio input for processing external sound sources – a lot of stuff you’d find on the original, but with the addition of MIDI and USB.
$400 is a very competitive price, but it’s unlikely Behringer’s clone will be made by hand like Moog’s synths. However, if you’re on a budget and you want something that sounds like a Moog, the Behringer D could be a great option.
The Behringer D is part of a wider push into synthesizer manufacturing by Behringer. As well as the recent DeepMind 12, the company recently announced it was planning a whole range of affordable analog synths starting at $49.
Read next: Buying your first synth: What to consider and where to get the best deal